Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ A Simple Knock ❯ Chapter 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Title: A Simple Knock

Author: Maetel

Email: maemaechan@yahoo.com

URL:

Rating: M 15+

Summary: Once again, I am back to no summaries. I suck at summarizing so meh.

Chapters: 13/16

Status: Incomplete

Year Completed: N/A

Mamoru stood outside of the Hikawa Jinja waiting for the four girls within as they prepared to go to Usagi’s little celebration by having Rei consult the great fire for guidance. She had been staring into its depths for the past hour for some sign that their princess was going to be brought back to their side without having to kill her in the process.

With a sigh, Makoto walked up behind the older fighter and placed a hand on his shoulder. His instincts told him to lash out should the person be an enemy, but managed to maintain control as he turned around and looked at the younger brunette.

“What did the fire… well, say?” he asked solemnly.

“It gave no information,” Makoto admitted softly.

“We are on our own for this one. We are just going to have to take care of this one blind,” Rei said as she walked up to the two, followed closely behind by Ami and Minako.

“Mizuno-san, are you sure that you are up to this?” Mamoru inquired as he looked at the pale face of the blue haired girl.

“I am a senshi. My first concern is the welfare of the princess. I would be failing my duty if I did not come tonight,” she answered.

Mamoru sighed, knowing that he probably would have answered the same way. “All right, but if you start to feel any sort of pain or discomfort then let one of us know.”

“I will,” Ami promised. “But if the time comes, then I will fight to save Usagi-chan, pain or no.”

“We understand, but we just want you to be careful, Ami-chan,” Rei told the blue haired girl before looking at Mamoru. “How long do we have to get there?”

“Midnight is in less than two hours, and we need to make sure that there aren’t any youma who might prove to be a problem. That and Minako still has Kunzite to meet up with if he hasn’t been discovered by Beryl.”

“And just where is this place? I mean, I know where it is, but how long of a walk?” questioned the raven haired miko.

“A twenty minute walk at a normal pace,” Mamoru answered. “I timed it after my classes were over this afternoon.”

“All right, so that should give us a little over an hour and a half for Minako-chan to find Kunzite and take care of any youma that might be there,” Ami said as she rapidly typed in the information into her mini-computer.

“That doesn’t give us much time to plan anything if Kunzite isn‘t there, or if he’s been turned and now setting us up,” Makoto stated as she looked at the others. “We might have to take Usagi-chan out before the plan goes into effect.”

“Mako-chan… please mind your words,” the black feline admonished gently as she strolled up behind the group.

“Luna is right. We do not want to ‘take Usagi-chan out’ before the plan. We need her weakened or unconscious,” Minako corrected. Artemis took this as a sign that his young charge was once again slipping into the role of leader of the senshi, and hoped that it wasn’t going to be too much for her to handle.

“Just be careful, girls,” he told them gently. “Tonight will be one of the more important battles you will face. Even if the princess gains control, we‘re going to have to make sure that she maintains control.”

The four girls nodded before heading towards what could be the scene for the hardest battle of their young lives with Mamoru leading the way.

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When the group arrived Minako looked around for the silver haired general, and spotted him in one of the dimly lit corners of the room. “Everyone, try to find the princess. I see someone I need to talk to.”

She left the others and headed over towards the figure with platinum blonde hair and looked up at him. He glared down at her. “I said that I would find you. How did you know that I had not been discovered?”

Minako swallowed hard, but did not lower her gaze. “We do not have a great deal of time, and I wanted to make sure that the plan was going to work. Might I ask what you were planning on doing?”

Kunzite raised an eyebrow at the girl’s attitude. “I have done my part. An object has been planted on her that will make sure that she does not pose as much of a threat during this battle by draining constantly draining small amounts of her energy. Not enough to notice at first, but it should be enough to make her beatable with all of the senshi attacking.”

Minako nodded once before a curious look took its place on her face. “Might I ask what you are going to be doing after this? Surely, your queen will know of your aiding us. Won’t you be putting yourself in danger by returning to the Dark Kingdom once this is all over?”

Kunzite’s face was expressionless as he answered, those his voice was laced with pain as he answered, “I’ll be joining Zoicite before I return to the Dark Kingdom. I am not going to be like Jadeite and doomed to eternal slumber, never finding the peace I wish for. After this battle, if I am not destroyed by Serenity, then I will end my own life.”

Minako’s first reaction was to try and talk the man before her out of his actions, but when she saw the resolve in his eyes, she knew that it would be wise to hold her tongue. She knew how he felt, for every one of her warrior instincts would lead her to do the same. With a respectful nod, Minako said, “I hope you find the peace you wish to attain with him in the next life.”

Kunzite said nothing as she turned and walked away. He simply watched the stage where a band of disguised youma stood playing music for the humans to dance to, all the while, wondering just how the four remaining senshi would manage to defeat their former leader.

After leaving Kunzite, Minako quickly found the others and saw that Mamoru had broken off from the group.

“Where did Mamoru-san go?” asked the blonde as she stepped up behind Rei.

“Serenity found us, and she wanted to talk to him. They’ve been up towards the stage since you talked to Kunzite, I think,” Ami said. “We lost track of them when they entered the crowd.”

Minako sighed and shot Rei a smile that was both grateful and worried when she said, “I’m sure that Mamoru-san is fine. She has made a move against any of us yet, and I’m doubting that she is going to hurt him. I know that if she tries, the princess will do something to stop her.”

“Arigato, Rei-chan,” Minako replied as she looked up to the stoic brunette, but was unsure of what to say. What does one say to one who felt as though she had failed her duty so soon after joining the team?

Sighing, the blonde looked out through the crowd, waiting for Mamoru to return.

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Mamoru felt the tug on his wrist finally cease when he and Serenity were in front of the stage, away from the senshi, but also away from a great deal of people, most of whom were at tables or talking to each other in small groups around the room.

“Aren’t they all pathetic?” she asked, her tone bored. “They come because they hear it’s going to be the party of the year. They never realized that they could be in danger…”

“Why would they have to believe that they are in danger? The don’t know about your alliance to Queen Beryl, or that Sailor Moon is now their worst enemy,” Mamoru stated, his voice cold, unknowingly causing a wrenching pain in the blonde‘s chest with his words.

She glared at him, though without the same fire behind her gaze that she had when she looked at the senshi. “I hold no alliance with Beryl. She is a means to an end. I fight for myself, and the power I can attain. She fights for a planet and for the one person she could never hope to gain. Beryl is weak, and the Dark Kingdom needs a strong ruler.”

“And just who do you have in mind for ruling the Dark Kingdom?” questioned Mamoru, even though he could guess the answer she was about to give.

“Why the only person capable of ruling that place with an iron fist. The only one capable of controlling the power of Metallia. Me, and I want to offer you something,” she said.

“What? A place by your side?” he asked.

“See, I knew that you were smart. Even though you do continue to fight with those weaklings,” the blonde said as she lifted her hand to the side of his face. “We would make the Dark Kingdom into a true force to be reckoned with in the Universe. No one would dare come against such power at there would be with the two of us as rulers, not even the senshi.”

Mamoru looked down into the eyes of the young warrior, and sighed. “There is only one person I have ever wanted to rule anything with, and though you look like her, though you sound like her, in your heart, I know that you aren’t her. Not now. She may be buried deep within you, but while you are like this… A warrior for the Dark Kingdom, I can’t.”

Serenity’s face became one of regret, anger, and disgust. “You would choose the undisciplined defenseless little wretch I was before? You are a fool! To think… I wished for you to be my king, but now… You will watch all of your precious weaklings die before I kill you myself, Tuxedo Kamen.”

Just as she turned to walk away, Mamoru grabbed her wrist, and pulled her back to him. He wrapped his arm around her to keep her from struggling.

“Usagi-chan, listen to me. I know that somewhere inside you is a pure heart. Somewhere inside of you…” He stopped unsure of what he should tell her exactly. He sighed and rested his head on her shoulder. “Somewhere inside of you is the girl who I picked on because I didn’t know how to show how I was actually attracted to her. Somewhere inside of you is the klutz who I wound up falling for. Please, Usagi-chan… come back to me…”

Meanwhile the blonde was frozen by the small bolts of electricity that were ripping through her from every point that her body was in contact with his. She’d never felt anything like what she was feeling at that moment. She knew that she should have been fighting against him, struggling to get away, but she couldn’t bring her body to move away from his, and when she felt his head touch the skin of her shoulder, she almost started crying. Everything that she had been taught by the Dark Kingdom was going completely against what she was feeling. She was confused, and she both hated and loved the feeling. Before she knew what she was saying, the word, “Tatsukete,” escaped her lips.

Mamoru’s eyes widened when he heard her speak and he quickly turned her around to look at him. “Usagi-chan?” he questioned softly as he looked into her eyes. He felt himself growing hopeful as he saw the conflicting emotions in her eyes, and felt the bond he shared with her, struggling to reawaken. “It’s me… Mamo-baka… Fight this… Please…”

The blonde looked up at him, and felt something at the back of her mind. “Mamo-chan…” she whispered before she heard Beryl’s voice screeching in her mind. She roughly wrenched herself away from him as she felt the strange sensation fade. She glared at him as her eyes once again became like a stone wall. “Get away from me! You rejected me for a group of weaklings. You will pay for that decision. You will not stop the Dark Kingdom from succeeding.”

Mamoru watched as she strode away and back into the crowd. He looked almost happy as he realized that maybe, Beryl’s hold over his love wasn’t as strong as the evil queen had hoped. He stood there for a moment before he felt a hand touch his arm. He turned and saw a concerned pair of emerald eyes looking at him.

“Mamoru-san, daijobu?” asked Makoto. “Where’s Usagi?”

“She just walked off, but there is something I need to tell you and the other senshi,” he told the brunette, who nodded and lead the way.